Crisp chat alternatives, and Crisp pricing explained plan by plan
Crisp is one of the few chat tools priced per workspace instead of per person, which makes it cheap for some teams and oddly expensive for others. This guide explains Crisp's pricing, shows the team sizes where it wins or loses, and compares seven alternatives for when it is not the right fit.
Quick answer
Crisp costs $0 (Free, two seats), $45 a month (Mini, four seats), $95 (Essentials, ten seats) or $295 (Plus, 20 or more seats), with extra seats at $10. Good Crisp alternatives are tawk.to and Chatwoot for free chat, Zoho SalesIQ for low per-operator prices, Help Scout or Intercom for a fuller helpdesk, and ReplyKit for WhatsApp-first businesses.
How much does Crisp cost in 2026?
Crisp has four plans priced per workspace, from free to $295 a month. Each plan includes a set number of seats, and extra seats are $10 a month each.
| Crisp plan | Monthly price | Seats included | Customer profiles | AI credits included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 | 100 | None |
| Mini | $45 | 4 | 5,000 | $5, about 90 automated conversations |
| Essentials | $95 | 10 | 50,000 | $25, about 450 automated conversations |
| Plus | $295 | 20 or more | 200,000 | $75, about 1,350 automated conversations |
The automated-conversation figures are Crisp's own estimates. Essentials adds the omnichannel AI chatbot and a workflow builder, and its plan description includes connecting WhatsApp Business, Instagram, SMS, Line and Viber. Plus adds Crisp's AI-first support suite. Crisp mentions yearly payment in its FAQ, offers 20% off additional workspaces on Essentials and Plus, and 50% off for nonprofits and students.
Crisp's strengths are real: a clean shared inbox, a knowledge base, a bot builder and email campaigns in one product, and a free plan to start. Our ReplyKit vs Crisp page covers how it compares with a WhatsApp AI agent.
What pushes teams to look for a Crisp alternative?
In practice it is one of four triggers:
- Outgrowing Free. The free plan stops at 100 customer profiles. A busy website passes that quickly, and the next step is $45.
- Wanting WhatsApp or Instagram. Those sit with Essentials at $95, which is a big jump for a solo owner.
- Small AI allowance. Mini's AI credit covers about 90 automated conversations a month by Crisp's estimate. If you want the AI to carry most of the load, you need a higher plan.
- Team of one. Workspace pricing pays off when you share it; a solo owner pays for seats nobody uses.
Per workspace or per seat: when Crisp stops being the cheap option
Crisp gets cheaper than most per-seat helpdesks from about four people up, and is rarely the cheapest option for one or two. Here is what the base seat cost looks like by team size, using each vendor's entry paid plan, before any AI usage. Help Scout and Intercom are full helpdesks, so they are not like-for-like, but this is the comparison people make.
| Team size | Crisp | Zoho SalesIQ Basic (yearly) | Chatwoot Startups | Help Scout Standard | Intercom Essential (yearly) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 people | $0 on Free (100 profiles), or $45 Mini | $14 | $38, or free on Hacker | $50 | $58 |
| 4 people | $45 Mini | $28 | $76 | $100 | $116 |
| 6 people | $65 (Mini plus 2 seats) or $95 Essentials | $42 | $114 | $150 | $174 |
| 10 people | $95 Essentials | $70 | $190 | $250 | $290 |
Two readings. On seat cost alone, Zoho SalesIQ undercuts Crisp at every size, but the plans include different things, so compare features too. Against full helpdesks such as Help Scout and Intercom, Crisp gets steadily cheaper as the team grows. If you are one or two people, the deciding factor is not seats at all, it is whether you need AI answers and which channel your customers use.
Seven Crisp chat alternatives, from free to full helpdesk
Prices from each vendor's own page in October 2026. We make ReplyKit, so weigh our view accordingly.
tawk.to: free, no seat limits stated
Free live chat with optional add-ons: $29 a month to remove branding and AI Assist from $29 a month. Choose it if people answer your chats and you want no bill. Skip it if you want AI to carry most chats. More in tawk.to alternatives.
Chatwoot: open source and self-hostable
Free Hacker plan for two agents and 500 conversations a month on live chat. Startups is $19 per agent with all channels and 300 Captain AI credits; Business is $39 with 500 credits. The core is MIT-licensed. Choose it if you want Crisp-style features and control of your data. Skip it if nobody on the team is technical and you plan to self-host.
Zoho SalesIQ: lowest per-operator price
Free for three operators and 100 chats; Basic $10 per operator ($7 yearly) with WhatsApp and Zia AI agents; Professional $17 ($12.75 yearly). Choose it if you use other Zoho apps. Skip it if you want the simplest setup.
Tidio: built for online stores
Free for 50 conversations; Starter $24.17 a month billed yearly; Lyro AI from $32.50 for 50 AI conversations. Choose it for Shopify-style stores. Skip it if your AI volume is high.
Help Scout: email-first helpdesk with chat
Standard is $25 per user a month with live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger; AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution. Choose it if most support comes by email. Skip it for a large team on a tight budget.
Intercom: full support platform
Essential is $29 per seat billed yearly ($39 monthly); the Fin AI agent is $0.99 per outcome. Choose it for a software company with in-app support needs. See Intercom alternatives for small business for why many small firms skip it.
ReplyKit: WhatsApp-first AI agent
$29, $49 or $99 a month with 1,000, 5,000 or 20,000 AI replies, plus a website assistant. Choose it if most customers message on WhatsApp and you take bookings. Skip it if you need email, Instagram or SMS.
How Crisp's included AI compares with pay-per-resolution tools
Crisp bundles a fixed AI credit into each plan; most helpdesks charge per AI result instead. Both models can be fair. What matters is your volume.
By Crisp's estimate, Essentials' $25 of credit covers about 450 automated conversations, roughly 6 cents each, inside the $95 plan. Pay-per-result tools charge far more per conversation but nothing until the AI succeeds: Help Scout AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution, Tidio Lyro starts at $32.50 for 50 conversations, and Intercom Fin is $0.99 per outcome. Chatwoot sells extra Captain credits at $20 per 1,000. ReplyKit counts AI replies rather than conversations: 1,000 are included in the $29 plan and extra packs are $10 per 1,000 that never expire.
If you expect the AI to handle a few dozen chats a month, pay-per-result is simple. If you expect hundreds, bundled credit or bundled replies will almost always cost less. A short trial on real traffic tells you which side you are on; you can start a ReplyKit trial alongside your Crisp account to compare.
Where ReplyKit fits next to Crisp
ReplyKit is the better fit when your customers mostly message on WhatsApp and the job is answering questions, qualifying leads and booking appointments. It answers from your website, PDFs, price lists and Q&A pairs, says so and escalates when the answer is not there, and books real open slots with double-booking protection and a reminder about 24 hours before. One line of code adds a website assistant with its own instructions. Compare plans.
WhatsApp connects with Quick Connect, a QR pairing that links your number as a device in about two minutes. It is unofficial, not the WhatsApp Business API, and a number can be restricted. You see one plain notice, and pressing Connect accepts section 3 of our Terms. We cap AI replies per number (30 an hour and 200 a day by default) and recommend a dedicated number. Crisp connects WhatsApp Business through its Essentials plan instead; our API versus QR pairing guide explains the difference in risk and cost.
Stay on Crisp if your team of four or more shares one inbox across email, chat, Instagram and WhatsApp, or you use its knowledge base and email campaigns. ReplyKit has no email channel, no Instagram, no campaigns and no integrations beyond CSV export.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Crisp chat cost?
Crisp is free for two seats and 100 customer profiles. Paid plans are Mini at $45 a month for four seats, Essentials at $95 for ten seats and Plus at $295 for 20 or more seats, with extra seats at $10 a month each.
Is Crisp chat free?
Yes, Crisp has a free plan with two seats and 100 customer profiles. It includes no AI credits, and WhatsApp and Instagram connections come with the paid Essentials plan.
Does Crisp include AI?
Paid plans include AI credits: $5 on Mini, $25 on Essentials and $75 on Plus, which Crisp estimates at about 90, 450 and 1,350 automated conversations. The omnichannel AI chatbot is part of Essentials and above.
What is the best free alternative to Crisp?
tawk.to has free live chat with no stated seat or chat cap. Chatwoot's free plan covers two agents and 500 conversations a month, and its MIT-licensed core can be self-hosted.
Is Crisp cheaper than Intercom?
For most small teams, yes. Four people on Crisp Mini cost $45 a month, against $116 for four Intercom Essential seats on yearly billing before any Fin charges.
Which Crisp alternative is best for WhatsApp?
If WhatsApp is one of many channels, Crisp Essentials, Help Scout and Zoho SalesIQ all include it in a wider inbox. If WhatsApp is the main channel and you want AI replies and booking at a flat price, ReplyKit is built for that, with an unofficial connection.
Try an AI agent built for WhatsApp enquiries
Run it next to Crisp for a week and compare. 7-day free trial with 300 AI replies, no credit card, setup in about 15 minutes.
Sources and further reading
- Crisp, Pricing · plans, seats, profiles, AI credits and discounts
- tawk.to, Pricing · free live chat and add-ons
- Chatwoot, Pricing · plans and Captain AI credits
- Chatwoot, LICENSE · MIT licence for the core
- Zoho, SalesIQ pricing · operator prices and plan features
- Tidio, Pricing · plans and Lyro AI
- Help Scout, Pricing · Standard plan and AI Answers
- Intercom, Pricing · seat prices and Fin
ReplyKit is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta or WhatsApp, or by Crisp or any other vendor named here. Prices for other vendors are taken from their public pricing pages as checked in October 2026 and may change. This article is general guidance, not financial advice.